


The Time Turner's Tales

by achangeofheart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1977, And angsty, F/M, Hogwarts, I'm feeling a little fluffy, So much angst, Time Travel, Time Turner
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5036581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achangeofheart/pseuds/achangeofheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Crookshanks finds the Time Turner Dumbledore secretly left Hermione, the clever cat sends the two back to the year 1977. While there, Hermione searches for Crookshanks and crosses paths with the young Remus Lupin and the rest of the Marauders in their seventh year. With them, she experiences what it was like to be at Hogwarts, new thrills and confusing love, even though she knows she can't stay. But as history unravels before her eyes, she can't find it in herself to leave her friends' sides, even as the Dark forces close in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I've heard of stranger AUs, personally. I have seen a few along the lines of this some years ago and I wondered if I could make it better than the one I skimmed. Anyhow, this was just an idea I've been toying with and when this (http://potterheadcanon.tumblr.com/post/127968587216/crookshanks-headcanon) headcanon came to my attention, I couldn't resist. I liked writing this and might continue it. I'm not sure! I hope no one is overly critical of this but if some of the details can be easily fixed, let me know! :)

_My dearest Remus,_

_You are the bravest, most selfless person I have ever met. I want you to know that I will cherish the memories we made together. I will miss you dearly and never forget how it felt to be with you. I would tell you this myself if I could but by the time this reaches you, I’ll be gone. I wish I had the time to explain but there’s none left to be had. Be safe. Be brave._

_With love,_

_H._

****  
  


Remus stared down at the paper until the words blurred. His hand went to his mouth as if it could cover the sob that escaped where it was trapped in his throat.

“What have you done?” he sobbed, unable to think through the haze. She had warned him after he found out, after he became involved, that it could end at any moment. But he hadn’t lingered on that thought; it had never fully sunk in before.

“It’ll be a miracle if I have any warning before I go,” she had told him. She never did tell him exactly where she would go. Whenever he asked, she was vague and her voice sounded bittersweet. Uncomfortable with the thought of her absence, he would always respond that she was where she belonged. With him. It was enough to make her smile and that was enough for him then. But he was naive to think that would be the end of it, that reality wouldn’t catch up to them.

Silently, she moved behind him. Her wand poised, she uttered the incantation she hated more than any in the world.

“Obliviate.”

In a daze as every trace of her was stripped from his mind, Remus couldn’t feel her slipping the scrap of paper from his hand. With tears in her eyes, she pocketed the paper and clutched her bag to her chest.

Then she was gone.


	2. What Once Was Mine

_July 5, 1997_

Within a day, Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins had packed their bags. Finally, their life ambition to travel to Australia had become a reality for them. Little did they know they had left not only a devastating war behind them, but a daughter as well. The very same daughter who sat alone in their home, staring at the pictures adorning the wall, none of which bore a trace of her smile . She worried they would remember they were the Grangers, not the Wilkins, and turn back around to face something so much bigger than any of them.

But worrying, she knew, was pointless and her spellwork was flawless.

With her bag in hand, Hermione made sure she had all she needed. After a quick stop, she’d be off to the Weasley’s and onto Merlin knew where afterward. It was unlikely she would be returning to her home in the near future yet she refused to let herself linger.

“I’ll be back,” she said to the empty house. Her eyes swept over each room as she passed, dozens of memories trying to stall her but she knew she only needed one last thing. She entered the kitchen and found her large, ginger cat sitting on the counter, watching her with burning golden eyes. The cat was part kneazle, an intelligent animal, and he missed nothing; he wasn’t keen on leaving the first home he’d had in years.

“Crookshanks,” Hermione said, holding out her arms, “come on now.” The cat gave a disgruntled meow and allowed his beloved master to pull him into her arms. Despite her bag and the cat’s massive size, Hermione made it to the door seamlessly and piled into the waiting car.

The driver glanced back warily at the feral looking cat but voiced no complaint. “Where to, miss?”

“Kings Cross Station, if you please.” Hermione settled into her seat and Crookshanks laid his head on her lap; this was only the beginning of their journey.

* * *

Hermione had always sought solace among her books, especially during times as stressful as these. With her books, she was able to lose herself in a world where she didn’t have to stress about her own problems for a while. Instead, she was absorbed into someone else’s life where she was faced with problems she could actually solve.

The luxury of being able to solve her own problems was one she hadn’t had since Dumbledore’s passing, though she doubted it was just her who felt that way.

The great wizard’s demise had been a harsh blow to not only the school, but to the entire wizarding community; it was chaotic without him. Dumbledore always found a way to make people understand when nothing made sense, even the Ministry itself. Without Dumbledore, it felt as if the bright future they all dreamed of had been buried with him. Even worse, without her most trusted leader, Hermione was all too aware of how little she knew, how unprepared she felt.

With that nagging thought in the back of her mind, Hermione returned to the place that never failed to comfort and enlighten her: the Hogwarts Library.

School had let out for the summer and Hermione was due at the Weasley’s in a week. But before she could let herself go, she wanted to return to her old haunt one last time as it didn’t appear that she or her friends would be returning to the castle for the start of seventh year.

Not sure who might be in the castle over holidays, Hermione decided to come through the entrance quietly. The large door creaked as she tried to shove it shut. Making her way through the castle, she was struck by just quiet it was, how alone she felt in the vast halls. Suddenly doubting her resolve to come here, Hermione hurried to the library, holding Crookshanks closer to her.

It was quiet inside, the rustle of her cloak the only sound as she walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. She set Crookshanks on the ground and knelt down to rifle through her bag. Pulling out a short list, she set about tracking down the titles.

Before she knew it, hours had passed and the sun was setting low. Having successfully tracked down all but one of the books on her list, Hermione packed the books into her bag and looked around for her cat.

“Crookshanks?” she called softly, walking past the shelves. She’d searched the entire floor without a sign of him. Hermione walked into the Restricted Section and heard a low mewl from under the table. She sank to the carpet and peeked underneath to see a toppled stack of books and the enormous cat’s back to her, refusing to acknowledge her presence.

“Crookshanks,” she said quietly. “It’s time to go.” The cat kept his back to Hermione and she sighed, reaching out a hand to stroke his fur, attempting to discreetly slide him out. Just as she tried, Crookshanks darted out from underneath the table with something glinting between his teeth. Despite his clever kneazle genes, Hermione worried he might choke on the foreign object and she hurried after him.

Taking her wand out of her pocket, she blurted “Accio Crookshanks!” and the cat flew into her arms. A long metal chain hung from his mouth and Hermione tugged. Crookshanks was reluctant to give up his object and when he did, he started struggling to against Hermione.

“What has gotten into you?” Hermione said, exasperated. Unable to juggle her necklace, her wand and Crookshanks all at once, she slipped the chain over her head. “Crookshanks,” she exclaimed as he became tangled in the chain. It was then she realized which necklace it was he’d been playing with, and why she had to hurry and get it away from her. “Calm down!”

And those were her last words before the world around her swirled in a whirlwind of color. She clutched Crookshanks to her chest as the vibrant colors bled together until everything turned to black. 


	3. The Tale of Two Kittens

_October 8th, 1977_

“Has anyone seen Atlas?” Lily asked. Based on the state of her hair and clothes, she must have been up for hours searching for her cat. Remus recalled she had inquired about the creature the previous night but he didn’t think much of it as Atlas had a tendency to wander the castle. He never managed to get lost, though; Remus wouldn't be surprised if the cat knew the castle better than the Marauders knew the map.

“I haven’t, love, sorry,” James said, pulling her toward him. From his spot across the table from Remus, he stared up into Lily’s face and invited her to sit. “I’m sure you haven’t eaten at all today.”

“How can I when he could be frozen solid or lost or dead or...” She trailed off and sat down, defeated and exhausted. James pushed a plate toward her, rubbing her back soothingly.

“If it’s any consolation,” Sirius said from Remus’ right, “Padfoot hasn’t had a taste for kneazles in weeks.”

“He’s half-kneazle, you oaf,” Lily said, her voice thick.

“Technicalities,” he said, waving his hand.

“Well, thanks for that,” she said with a sniff. Unamused, she turned her green eyes on Sirius. “Good to know my friend didn’t eat my cat.”

“Merlin, there’s no pleasing these women sometimes,” Sirius muttered. James frowned at Sirius and the latter looked affronted. “I wouldn’t want to eat that thing anyway. Its face is much too smushed…”

Remus ignored them and continued to pick at the food on his plate. He’d been feeling strange all day and he couldn’t place why. The last full moon was more than a week ago; it wasn’t normal for his body to still be adjusting, especially with the help of the wolfsbane potion to ease his condition. No, there was something amiss that morning, and it was driving Remus mad not knowing what it was.

“Alright, Moony?” James asked him. Remus glanced up to see his friend's concerned eyes watching him. Surprised he was paying attention to anyone but Lily, he glanced at the redhead and saw she was actually managing a few bites. If she could pull it together, so could he.

“’Course, mate,” Remus replied, giving a grim smile. “I've just remembered I have to grab something from the library.”

“Is Transfiguration giving you trouble again?” Peter asked. Though Remus’ body underwent intense transfiguration each month, he himself was lousy at the subject. Well, lousy compared to the rest of his courses. He often wondered why that was but in that moment, it wasn’t his most concerning thought.

Remus stood from the table. “Just some books I’ve been meaning to check out is all.”

“You coming down to the field later?” James asked him as he turned to go. “For the practice match?”

“Sure,” Remus said, finally walking away. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

Navigating the halls was a second nature to Remus, and though he hadn’t actually intended to go to the library, he found himself drawn to it nevertheless. When he reached for the door, he was met with resistance, which only intrigued him further. He couldn’t recall the last time the library was closed, even on weekends. Remus looked around to find the hall empty before extracting his wand from his back pocket.

“ _Alohomora_ ,” Remus muttered, tracing a backward “S” with his wand. He could hear the click as the door unlocked. Keeping his wand out, he opened the door and found the entire library black as pitch. “ _Lumos_.”

By the light of his wand, he navigated the aisles of the library. His first thought was to open the curtains to let in the morning light through the windows, until he heard a voice behind him.

“Crookshanks!” It was hushed and far away, but he picked up on the anxiety in it. “Where are you?”

Confused, Remus followed the voice and traced it to the Restricted Section, a light like his shining from behind a bookshelf.

“Who’s there?” Remus finally asked. He held his breath and his wand in a vise-like grip. It went entirely silent, though the voice must have muttered a faint “ _Nox_ ” as their wand’s light went out. “Hello?”

It stayed quiet and Remus could hear his heart beating. Did he just walk in on something he shouldn’t have? He did have a tendency to do that but… No, there was something off. Call it intuition, a gut feeling, he didn’t care; something compelled him to stay—

Directly behind Remus, a stack of books toppled over and all he could hear was the sound of shredding paper as something hissed. He darted forward and whirled around, shining his light on the creature—an orange cat with a smushed in face. “Atlas,” he breathed, clutching a fist to his pounding heart.

“Crookshanks!” That time, the voice was behind him. Before he could even turn, a girl came out of nowhere and scooped up the cat. Knowing its violent tendencies, Remus started to say something.

“Wait! I wouldn’t—”

But Remus spoke too late. Atlas’ paw shot out and raked its claws along the girl’s arm. She let put a cry of surprise before he leapt from her arms and ran off. She tried to reach for him but he was out the library door before she could call him Crookshanks one last time.

Knowing it was pointless, she lit up her wand again to check her arm. She shook her head and muttered a healing spell under her breath. Satisfied with her quick work, she whirled around to face Remus, who hadn’t moved the entire time.

“Who are you?” she asked. Though he made no move toward her, she pointed her wand at him defensively. Her eyes looked him over, trying to identify what made him so familiar.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said, raising an eyebrow. She tilted her head and raised her wand to his chest. He put nothing past what the stranger was capable of doing and decided compliance might get him further. “Remus Lupin.” The witch’s eyes widened and her arm wavered before she let it fall to her side. “What?” Remus demanded, secretly self-conscious.

The girl swallowed and looked away, using her bushy brown hair to hide her face. “I need to go find my cat.” Remus was at a loss for words as she started backing away. “Have a good rest of your day.”

“ _Your_ cat?” Remus finally managed to stutter. “I think you mean Lily Evans’ cat.”

“Lily Evans,” the girl repeated slowly. “Oh, Merlin. That figures.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Trust me,” she says, continuing out the door. “You’re better off not knowing.”

“Wait a second,” Remus said, catching up to her. The witch gave an aggravated sigh and ignored him as she hurried to the library doors. After a quick glance outside the door, she deemed it safe and continued down the corridor, with Remus at her heels. “How did you even get here?” Remus asked, growing more confused by the second.

“I’m a Hogwarts student, like you,” she told him. Glancing around another corner, she continued down the hall.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” he said with a humorless laugh as he followed her up a staircase. “I would have noticed you if you were.”

She turned and looked down at him then, arching an eyebrow. Her intelligent eyes looked over him with confusion. “Is that right?”

“A girl like you?” He shook his head and a small, charming smile graced his face. “Who wouldn’t notice you?”

“That never stops being weird,” she muttered to herself as she turned back around. Opening another door, she stepped through and jumped onto one of the many moving staircases. His eyebrows drew together at her reaction; he was nothing less than genuine. In fact, his compliments were usually a welcome invite, especially compared to those of his crude companions. Remus watched her ascend and hop onto a platform while he waited for another staircase.

“Goodbye, Mr. Lupin,” she called, stepping through another door.

“Bloody hell,” he said. He knew better than to let her out of his sight. Steeling his nerves, he took a deep breath and launched himself at a passing staircase. His foot slipped but his hands gripped the banister just in time. Pulling himself up, he regained his footing and darted up the stairs. He reached the top as soon as the platform she had disappeared on was within his sight. Luck was on his side when the staircase came to a shuddering stop and he was able to hop on without incident.

Remus walked through the doorway that lead from the platform and looked either way. She was gone. He glanced around a final time before heading back to the Gryffindor quarters. Something in his gut told him she would try there first, though he wasn’t sure how she planned to get past the Fat Lady. He hurried along and when he arrived before the portrait, he noticed the portrait’s inhabitant was off somewhere else.

“Hello?” Remus called out, hoping the Fat Lady would hear him and return to let him into the common room. He waited but alas, his luck had run out at the staircases. But just as he turned to go, he saw the portrait left ajar. Reaching out slowly, Remus opened the portrait and stepped inside the Gryffindor common room.

There wasn’t a soul in sight. Remus remembered everyone was down at the Quidditch Pitch. The match, while unofficial, was always a big event for the Gryffindors. It often attracted all the Houses, though, as everyone was ready to kick off the Quidditch season. The promise of James Potter's brilliant fireworks at the end attracted even the teachers, who decidedly ignored the rule against them for the night.

Remus crossed the room and started up the staircase to the boys’ dorms. He heard a loud hiss before he was assaulted by something furry launching into his chest. The momentum and surprise sent him sailing backwards down the stairs. He hit his head against the stone wall on impact and spots danced across his vision.

“Remus!” It was the witch’s voice he heard followed by her hurried footsteps down the stairs. It was her hand that brushed back his hair and patted his cheek. “Come on now. Stay awake. Remus!” His eyes fluttered as he looked past the black splotches and into the witch’s young face. She couldn’t have been a year younger than him, especially with those eyes. They had seen too much for her years. And still, Remus wondered how he had never seen her before.

“Merlin,” she said, blowing out a relieved breath when she saw him respond. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Scare you?” Remus asked, affronted. Ignoring the pain, he propped himself up on his elbows. “It was your fault the cat attacked me! I warned you not to mess with Lily’s bedamned cat but here you are, chasing it all over the castle!”

“It’s not Lily’s cat I’m after, you idiot. Crookshanks is my cat. I didn’t mean to take him with me and now he’s off to Merlin knows where...”

“What do you mean you didn’t mean to take him with you?” Remus demanded, bewildered.

“Oh, nevermind that. Where did he go?” She stood from where she had been kneeling by his side and looked about the common room. When her eyes swept past the entrance, she groaned.

“What?” Remus asked, standing. He still felt lightheaded and grabbed for the back of a chair.

“You left the portrait wide open!” Even through his daze, Remus could tell the witch was a moment away from hitting him upside the head, regardless of the fact it had already been bashed in.

“You left it open first,” he accused.

“I did not,” she said, storming off. He followed her as she started for the door.

“Oh, so the Fat Lady deciding to take a break had absolutely nothing to do with you?” Remus countered.

“Take a break?” the girl asked. She exited the common room and turned to view the portrait herself. When she saw the Fat Lady was missing, she gasped. “She must have run off and left it open to anyone.”

“Did you curse her?” Remus asked.

“I would never!” she said, crossing her arms.

“Well, sometimes she can be a bit unreasonable,” he said, as if saying this might draw the truth from her.

“That’s an understatement,” the witch muttered. She threw up her hands then. “Fine. I may have used an old unlocking spell on the door... and she may have been a bit offended.”

“‘May’?” Remus repeated, only to be ignored.

“I’m a Gryffindor though! I needed inside desperately and she still wouldn’t accept my password.”

“Must not have been the right one then,” Remus said in his infuriating, know-it-all voice.

The witch raised a brow at him. “Clearly not. And now here I am, right back where I started. Stuck with a smart arse instead of my cat.”

“It’s not your cat,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at her. Behind them, down the opposite side of the hallway, there was a resounding crash followed by hissing and growling. The two looked at each other before taking off toward the sound.

As they rounded the corner, Remus saw one of the armored knights laying disassembled on the ground. Next to it, he saw two cats clawing at each other, meowing and spitting. And both cats looked identical, with smushed in faces and raised orange fur, save for the fact that one was a bit fatter.

“Crookshanks!” The witch yelled, throwing herself into the fray. Only the thinner cat responded and let her pull it back while the other swiped its claws at her.

Seizing his opportunity, Remus grabbed for the second cat, the one he believed to be Lily’s. Its claws raked along his sweater before getting caught. Remus managed to take off his sweater one handed and balled Atlas up in it. After realizing it was stuck, the cat started pitifully meowing without pause. Remus only shook his head at its persistence.

“You’re much too ugly too act this much like a baby,” he told it. It continued to beg for pity from inside his sweater. Paying it no mind, he looked up at the witch but she was already walking off the way they came with her cat.

“Hey!” he called after her. “Wait up!” She kept her pace as she continued down the corridor, likely planning to head back to the library.

When Remus finally caught up to her, he could hear the unmistakable laughter of Sirius and James around the next bend. The witch’s eyes went wide. Without another thought, she grabbed Remus’ arm and pulled him into the nearest broom closet.

“What are you doing?” he asked her, bewildered. She shushed him and clamped her free hand over his mouth, quietly begging him not to speak. There was a certain desperation in her eyes that kept made him oblige. Soon, the laughter of his friends faded and she slowly released him.

“What was that about?” he asked her, calmly this time.

She sighed. “If I told you, I’d have to Obliviate you.”

He tilted his head. Perhaps her problem with him was personal. “Did you like Sirius?”

“What? No!”

He raised his eyebrows. “James?”

“You have no idea how ridiculous you sound right now.”

“Not judging,” he said, holding up his hands. “Though it might explain your infatuation with Lily’s cat.”

“It isn’t her cat!” The witch repeated. She looked down sadly at the cat in her arms and stroked its fur. It looked up at her with sad looking yellow eyes. “At least not in my time...”

“Your time?” Remus’ head spun with possibilities and the witch glanced sharply up. He always thought time travel was within the realm of something wizards could do, if they were powerful enough. So just how powerful was this witch? he wondered.

Accepting her slip in words, she nodded grimly. “I bought Crookshanks years after Lily had him.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Remus said, shaking his head. “And besides, Lily would never part with this dumb cat.” The cat in his arms hissed and the witch shook her head sadly.

“She didn’t want to. It just... happened. Like I happened to find Crookshanks.” She pet the cat in her arms tenderly and Remus felt himself softening. “This poor devil found my Time Turner though. Thought it was a toy… I think.” By the chain around her neck, she lifted the necklace from where it was hidden underneath her blouse. Remus tilted his head and stepped forward to get a closer look.

“I’ve read about these,” he breathed. He looked down at her and realized how close they were standing. “How did you get it?”

“Professor McGonagall originally,” she said. “But Dumbledore entrusted it to me before Crookshanks ended up messing with it. All it took was me picking them both up and here we are. In Lily’s time, no less...

She shook her head. “I’m starting to wonder if it was an accident Crookshanks found the Time Turner.”

“He _is_ part kneazle,” Remus supplied weakly, looking down at the cat. Perhaps it _did_ have enough sense to have ulterior motives. “So if what you’re telling me is true… wait, why are you telling me this?”

“Because you keep bugging me about it, first of all,” she said. “And I guess... I just had to tell someone before I go back.”

“Why me?” he asked, holding her gaze.

Her eyes never wavered from his. “Because you’ve already seen too much.”

The words sunk in slowly. “You’re going to Obliviate me?” Remus asked, resigned. He wanted to argue but this was bigger than him. The repercussions of even _knowing_ something like this… he didn’t want to be the reason time itself unraveled if there was a chance.

“I’ve done it before,” she assured him. Despite the anxiety building in his chest, Remus found that it wasn’t her abilities he was concerned with. “I won’t take everything. You just won’t remember me.”

And somehow that didn’t make it easier for him.

“Can I at least know your name?” he wondered. He smiled charmingly though it didn’t meet his eyes. “If I’ll forget it anyway?”

She gave a bittersweet smile. “Hermione Granger.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” he said before his eyebrow furrowed. “For as long as it lasted anyway.”

“We’ll meet again,” she told him, taking out her wand.

“We will?”

She looked up at him and nodded, letting herself smile. “Under different circumstances, though.”

“Well, I suppose this will be worth it then,” he tried to reason. He gave her a rueful smile and closed his eyes. “Wouldn’t want to wait that long to meet you again.” Oddly touched by his words, she hesitated to lift her wand. Her eyes studied his young, smooth face, so different than what she was used to. He was handsome and while he did look tired, he looked more alive in his youth than she’d ever seen him.

“I’ll see you soon,” she whispered finally. “ _Obliv—_ ”

As Remus regretted that Hermione couldn’t stay, the closet door was ripped open. Hermione stumbled back and dropped her wand. Remus, with his memories still intact, opened his eyes and turned to see his three closest friends crowding the doorway.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!


End file.
